New Doctoral School is home to nearly 5,000 doctoral researchers

From the beginning of 2023, the four previous doctoral schools of the University of Helsinki were merged into The doctoral school is an academic unit whose key operations include the allocation of funding to doctoral programmes, the strategic development of doctoral education, and the provision of education in the transferable skills included in doctoral education.

“The doctoral school is an extensive and multidisciplinary community active on all campuses. The University of Helsinki is already a strong and significant provider of doctoral education, and the new doctoral school framework is aimed at further developing supervision and teaching, spreading good practices and supporting the operations of doctoral programmes,” said , Director of the doctoral school, at the institution’s opening ceremony on 6 June.

In the spring, the doctoral school laid the groundwork for the full start of operations in the autumn. In September, the doctoral school will hold its first joint welcoming event.

Reform a part of professional procedures

The University finances salaried positions for doctoral researchers, in addition to which many doctoral researchers work with personal grants. Doctoral theses are also written while working elsewhere, often on a part-time basis.

Chancellor of the University of Helsinki, who spoke at the opening ceremony, emphasised that the doctoral school is one stage in the transition from the old, also subjective, right to study to current and new kinds of processes.

The University of Helsinki Doctoral School comprises a total of 33 doctoral programmes. At the end of 2022, there were 4,657 doctoral researchers at the University of Helsinki.